Thursday, August 23, 2012

Childhood Dorkiness - Pre-K

Being a dork is lonely--especially when you are a kid. I remember feeling so very emotionally isolated from all the people around me. I was constantly questioning what it was that "they" had that I did not. I still don't know, to be quite honest.

Here is the first in a series of memories from my childhood:

Pre-K: Looking back at movies from this era, I can see now that I was quite a bossy child then. One particular video shows my 4th or 5th birthday party. It is apparent on this home movie that I saw the role of birthday girl as being "supreme boss person". There are a few different documented places in which this less-than-desirable characteristic of childhod me have come to light. Which is probably one contributing factor to why the following incident happend: So, my family lived in a neighborhood with quite a few kids. I occasionally played with the children next door, across the street, behind us, etc. I must have really pushed their buttons because apparently they got pissed off at my sense of superiority and decided to take revenge. This group got into one big mob one day (6 or 7 of them) and stood in the yard ajacent to mine. They called for me to come and see something. I still remember that box of junior mints Anne-Marie was holding. The looked delectable and I was really eager to try one. As I got closer, Anne-Marie asked if I wanted one. Of course I said yes. But as I started to climb over the fence, the whole group exclaimed with one voice, "NOT YOUR PROPERTY!". I backed down and just stared at them, baffled. Of course, I did not know what the word "property" meant, but the contextual clues were pretty apparent. They then told me that they wouldn't do it again, but as I started to climb over the fence (thinking they had made a mistake earlier) they yelled it again! "NOT YOUR PROPERTY!" This happened something like 3 or 4 times. They told me it was because I was always mean to them. And then I gave up and left. I don't remember if I cried or not. Probably, because I cry at the drop of a hat.

This story does not probably make me sound like a dork. It makes my neighbor kids sound like jerks. And they were. But I didn't know that then. I truly thought I had done something to make them not like me. I feel this was the first time I began to get the sense that other kids didn't like me. Whether I liked them wasn't the issue. They didn't like me, and that was all that mattered.